Should we sing patriotic music in church?

Thanks for sending in your questions. This week we continued our This Is My Story series, and we heard a wonderful story from Don about walking through challenging and fearful times and how God provided during those times. Again, I encourage you to go back and listen if you didn’t get a chance to hear it live.

Well, this past weekend here in the United States, we also celebrated Independence Day. More specifically, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And our question this week is related a little more to the 4th of July than it is to this week’s message.

The question is this: Should we sing patriotic songs in church? Well, I’ll be honest, I’ve wrestled with this one over the years. Some churches have had a long tradition of singing or even filling the church service with patriotic music and imagery around the 4th of July. Some churches will have something they call a God and country service.

Some churches ignore the calendar altogether and don’t even mention it. You wouldn’t even know that there was a holiday happening. And I’m sure across the country, there is every example imaginable in between those extremes. So, should we sing patriotic songs in church? Well, first, let’s clarify what we mean by “in church.”

It may be obvious to many, but I do not mean in the church building. This question is specifically talking about a worship service. Should we sing patriotic songs in a worship service? And to that end, my response is this: No. I do not think that we should sing patriotic songs during a worship service.

Now, before anyone thinks I’m saying anything negative about patriotic music, or that I’m saying anything anti-patriotic, I’m not. I’m specifically talking about whether we should include patriotic songs in our worship services. On the 4th of July this year, my family and I, along with other friends from the church, went to see the fireworks and hear the symphony play along with those fireworks.

And we all wore our red, white, and blue, and I proudly stood and sang along with the national anthem. I sang along with America the Beautiful and My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, and I clapped my hands and stomped my feet and sang along with Stars and Stripes Forever, and even pretended to play that piccolo solo at the end with my air piccolo.

All that to say, patriotic music is great. I love it. And I said in service on Sunday, I consider myself to be very fortunate and blessed to live in the US. And I am proud to be an American. I am thankful for all that God has provided for us, especially our freedom, and especially our freedom to worship without fear of persecution.

But I still believe that we should avoid singing patriotic songs as a part of our corporate worship gatherings. The New Testament consistently presents corporate worship as being centered on God himself. When believers gather on the Lord’s Day, they gather to exalt Christ, proclaim the gospel, hear God’s Word, encourage one another, and celebrate the work of God.

Every element of the service should contribute to those purposes. John Piper argues that this is the central issue. Christians certainly have earthly loyalties, like to family, community, and nation, but every one of those loyalties is secondary to our allegiance to Christ, because believers have been united with Christ. And as Philippians 3 says, our citizenship is in heaven.

Therefore, the worship service should uniquely highlight our absolute allegiance to Jesus rather than any earthly nation. Piper goes on to argue, and I would agree, that while patriotism has an appropriate place in a Christian life, the gathered worship of the church is not that place. That distinction is important.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with loving one’s country. In fact, Scripture encourages gratitude for every good gift that comes from God. Christians should thank God for the remarkable freedoms many Americans enjoy, particularly the freedom to worship openly, preach the gospel, and live according to biblical convictions.

We should also honor those who have sacrificed and preserved those freedoms. The question, however, is whether patriotic songs best serve the purpose of worship. Biola professor Kenneth Berding notes that Scripture never commands the church to sing patriotic songs, nor do we find examples in the early church doing so.

While Israel sang songs about God’s work among his covenant people, the New Testament church is fundamentally different. It is an international people gathered from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Because there is no direct biblical command either requiring or forbidding patriotic songs, the discussion becomes one of biblical wisdom rather than explicit command.

One of Berding’s most compelling observations concerns the message patriotic songs communicate to different people in the congregation. To lifelong American Christians, these songs may simply express gratitude for their country. But what about the immigrant who recently became a believer? What about the international student visiting church for the very first time?

What about missionaries home on furlough after serving overseas? Or believers from countries where American foreign policy has been experienced very differently? The New Testament repeatedly emphasizes that Christians are united by something far greater than their nationality. Galatians 3:28 declares that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek.

And Ephesians 2 celebrates Christ for breaking down the dividing wall between peoples. Our deepest identity is not American or Canadian or Brazilian or Nigerian or Korean — it’s Christian. Professor of Church and Baptist history Thomas Kidd put it like this: churches should do nothing that would give our global brothers or sisters reason to feel like they don’t belong in our 4th of July service.

Such things could include the indiscriminate blending of worship songs with patriotic anthems, making it unclear whether we’re supposed to praise God or the American nation. Another would be to suggest that America is a nation uniquely favored by God, as if it were the latter-day biblical Israel. By all means, let’s thank God for the good things he’s given us in American history.

Foremost among those is the freedom to practice our faith in accord with biblical truth. Let’s pray for our local leaders to possess and employ godly wisdom, so that the people of God may be allowed to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence, as it says in 1 Timothy 2:2. But even on the 4th of July, let’s remember that America is not a believer’s eternal home.

If an unbeliever happened to attend or visit on the 4th of July weekend, what impression would they leave with? Would they conclude that the church primarily celebrates Christ? Or would they wonder whether Christianity and American identity are essentially the same thing? And what about the sojourner or refugee?

Would a God and country service point them to Christ, or to something else more confusing? This concern becomes even more significant as churches become increasingly multicultural. Many congregations today include believers from dozens of nations. I love the fact that I can’t even keep track of the number of people in our congregation that come from different countries and other cultures.

And the local church should be one of the few places on earth where national identities become secondary to shared identity in Christ. Again, to be clear, none of this means churches should ignore Independence Day. Gratitude for our nation is entirely appropriate when it is expressed as thanksgiving to God rather than celebration of national greatness, or worse, superiority.

There are also many appropriate places for patriotic music outside the worship service itself. I mentioned my family and I attended the local firework show, and we did so with other friends from the church. A big group of us had a picnic waiting for it to start. That’s a great place for patriotic music.

There’s also parades or neighborhood celebrations where patriotic songs naturally fit the occasion. Also, 4th of July concerts, both in the community and even at churches. Remember, we’re specifically talking about avoiding patriotic singing in service. But an evening concert at a church? Do it. Go for it.

To be honest, I wish we had the time and resources to do a huge patriotic concert with all of our wonderful musicians here at the church. But these settings outside of church service allow believers to celebrate national holidays without confusing the unique purpose of a corporate worship gathering.

For many of us, the United States of America is worthy of gratitude. But God alone is worthy of worship. Keeping those two truths distinct protects both our patriotism and our worship. We can deeply love our country, faithfully pray for its leaders, gratefully celebrate its blessings, and diligently seek its good, while remembering that our ultimate citizenship is in heaven and our highest allegiance belongs forever to the one true King. And that is Jesus.

Well, I hope this has been helpful, and I hope this leads to further discussion. Thanks again for sending in those questions, and we will see you next time.